40th anniversary: 13th inning inside-the-park walk-off home run

40 years ago today, the Cardinals topped the Mets in a memorable matter – with an extra innings walk-off, inside-the-park home run. Yeah, you don’t see too many of those.

Tom Seaver for the visitors and Bob Gibson for the home team. Neither pitcher was having their best season in 1972, but both were still terrific talents.

Despite the impressive marquee value on the mound, the game began as anything but a pitcher’s duel, as both squads pushed a run across the plate in the first inning. Bob Gibson surrendered a home run to Wayne Garrett, and Lou Brock made Seaver pay for a leadoff walk by stealing second and scoring on a Joe Torre single.

After that, the game settled down as the pitchers took control. In the second through eighth innings, the squads combined for just one more run. That came in the fourth when Tom Seaver lost his control and walked in a run.

Heading into the ninth, it looked like another Bob Gibson victory would be grinded out. However, in the top of the ninth, Gibson lost his stuff, surrendering back-to-back doubles to tie the score.

Gibson recovered to get the next two guys out. Well, he got one out, and the second one sacrificed himself. In a sign of how the game has changed, with one out and the potential winning run on second base, the Mets let pitcher Tom Seaver bat for himself so he could sacrifice the runner. Mind you, the runner was already in scoring position and this left the Mets with just one out to play with. And it nearly worked for them. Gibson walked the next two batters to load the bases, but got a fly out to end the inning.

On to the bottom of the ninth. There’s only one thing worth noting in this frame. The Mets began the inning with relief pitcher Tug McGraw taking the place of Tom Seaver. This makes it that much odder that Mets manager Yogi Berra would let Seaver bat just a few minutes earlier. Well, McGraw shut down the Cardinals and extra innings beckoned.

Gibson stayed in and for the 24th time in his career recorded the 28th out in a game. But he only lasted one more inning before the bullpen took over in the 11th. And the game kept going on. The only rally came in the top of the 12th with St. Louis reliever Diego Segui walked the first two batters, but then he picked one off and struck the next two out.

Finally, the game reached the bottom of the 13th. Tug McGraw was still in, working his fifth frame in relief. Yeah, it was a different time back then. And leading off the inning, Ted Sizemore made him pay.

He hit one out to left field where Cleon Jones attempted to make a shoestring catch – and missed. Sizemore was off to the races. By the time Jones could run down the ball and get it back to the infield, Sizemore was on his way home – and he made it for a walk-off 3-2 win in 13 innings.

Oh, and one final way this game showed how times were different back then: the 13 inning contest finished in just under three hours.

Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something that occurred X-thousand days ago) today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to just skim through things.”>On Aug. 7, 1972, the Cardinals hosted the Mets for a Monday night game that looked like it would be a great pitchers’ duel. Both teams had their Cooperstown-bound ace taking the hill that day – Tom Seaver for the visitors and Bob Gibson for the home team. Neither pitcher was having their best season in 1972, but both were still terrific talents.

Despite the impressive marquee value on the mound, the game began as anything but a pitcher’s duel, as both squads pushed a run across the plate in the first inning. Bob Gibson surrendered a home run to Wayne Garrett, and Lou Brock made Seaver pay for a leadoff walk by stealing second and scoring on a Joe Torre single.

After that, the game settled down as the pitchers took control. In the second through eighth innings, the squads combined for just one more run. That came in the fourth when Tom Seaver lost his control and walked in a run.

Heading into the ninth, it looked like another Bob Gibson victory would be grinded out. However, in the top of the ninth, Gibson lost his stuff, surrendering back-to-back doubles to tie the score.

Gibson recovered to get the next two guys out. Well, he got one out, and the second one sacrificed himself. In a sign of how the game has changed, with one out and the potential winning run on second base, the Mets let pitcher Tom Seaver bat for himself so he could sacrifice the runner. Mind you, the runner was already in scoring position and this left the Mets with just one out to play with. And it nearly worked for them. Gibson walked the next two batters to load the bases, but got a fly out to end the inning.

On to the bottom of the ninth. There’s only one thing worth noting in this frame. The Mets began the inning with relief pitcher Tug McGraw taking the place of Tom Seaver. This makes it that much odder that Mets manager Yogi Berra would let Seaver bat just a few minutes earlier. Well, McGraw shut down the Cardinals and extra innings beckoned.

Gibson stayed in and for the 24th time in his career recorded the 28th out in a game. But he only lasted one more inning before the bullpen took over in the 11th. And the game kept going on. The only rally came in the top of the 12th with St. Louis reliever Diego Segui walked the first two batters, but then he picked one off and struck the next two out.

Finally, the game reached the bottom of the 13th. Tug McGraw was still in, working his fifth frame in relief. Yeah, it was a different time back then. And leading off the inning Ted Sizemore made him pay.

He hit one out to left field where Cleon Jones attempted to make a shoestring catch – and missed. Sizemore was off to the races. By the time Jones could run down the ball and get it back to the infield, Sizemore was on his way home – and he made it for a walk-off 3-2 win in 13 innings.

Oh, and one final way this game showed how times were different back then: the 13 inning contest finished in just under three hours.

Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something that occurred X-thousand days ago) today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to just skim through things.

Day-versaries

4,000 days since Bengie Molina gets a hit in his ninth consecutive at bat, an Angels franchise record.

8,000 days since a 37-year-old George Brett triples twice in one game. He’s 4-for-4 with a foiled stolen base attempt as well.

20,000 days since MLB makes a change to the balk rule. The batter has the option of accepting the outcome of the pitch or taking the balk if he prefers. This only can apply if the balk is called after the pitch, obviously.

1901 Milwaukee manager Hugh Duffy punches umpire Al Mannassau over a call in the ninth inning. The AL will give Duffy a four game suspension for this.

1906 Giants manager John McGraw orders the Polo Grounds to refuse to admit umpire Jimmy Johnstone due to McGraw’s anger at a recent Johnstone call. However, Johnstone’s partner refuses the work the game without him, and the Giants forfeit the game.

1907 Walter Johnson wins his first game as Washington tops Cleveland, 7-2.

1911 Joe Tinker doesn’t hit for the cycle against Christy Mathewson, but he comes close. He singles, doubles, triples – and steals home.

1915 Sam Rice, Hall of Famer with 2,987 career hits, makes his big league debut. It’s as a relief pitcher.

1919 The New York Yankees all-time cumulative franchise record bottoms out at 134 games under .500 (1,247-1,381). They’ll tie this low point three more times in 1919, but never go lower.

1920 Authorities charge Giants manager John McGraw with assault and with violating the Volstead Act. He’ll be acquitted.

1925 Hall of Fame pitcher Herb Pennock records his 100th loss. His record is 128-100.

1926 After throwing well over 1,000 innings, Hall of Fame Dazzy Vance has his first balk. He’ll have just one more in his career.

1929 For the second straight game, Babe Ruth hits a grand slam. Due to doubleheaders, it’s not the second consecutive game, though.

1929 Don Larsen, the man who threw a perfect game in the World Series, is born.

1930 There’s a classic Negro Leagues pitchers duel today between Smokey Joe Williams and Chet Brewer. In 12 innings, Williams fans 25 and allows one hit in a 1-0 win while Brewer strikes out 19 while surrendering just four hits.

1940 Lou Boudreau has a career high six RBIs in one game. He’s 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs.

1941 I wonder what his pitch count was: Bob Feller has a long, long day for Cleveland. He throws 13 innings, allows 13 hits, walks 11, and fans 13 in a 4-3 loss. None of the 13 hits he allowed went for extra bases, which is how he could allow just four runs off 24 base runners. It’s the longest outing of his career. Cleveland scored three times in the bottom of the ninth to tie it.

1943 The Giants leave 18 runners on base, two in each inning, as they lose 9-6 to the Phillies.

1956 A record setting minor league crowd of 57,000 sees Satchel Paige pitch for Miami in the Orange Bowl versus Columbus.

1956 Ted Williams has a wild game. He spits at fans who jeer at him for misplaying a ball in the top of the 11th at Fenway, and then draws a walk-off walk in the bottom of the 11th. The club fines Williams $5,000 for spitting.

1989 It’s the only time in his streak that Cal Ripken has zero PA in a game. He plays the top of the first at shortstop and then is immediately pulled for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the first. I wonder what the story was that day.

2001 The 10,000 home run in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies franchise is hit by Bobby Abreu.

2001 Bret Saberhagan appears in his last game.

2001 Ex-Bears defensive star Steve “Mongo” McMichael is ejected at Wrigley Field by the umpire Angel Hernandez for criticizing his calls while leading the crowd in the seventh inning stretch singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”